In its past two home matches, the Ball State men's volleyball team lost six total sets, three more than the previous four home matches combined.
The No. 14 Cardinals fell to Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association foe IPFW on Feb. 5 and then to 1-6 George Mason on Feb. 7.
"We're in a tough, scary kind of team-building moment and these guys need to respond in the appropriate fashion to get through it," head coach Joel Walton said. "It's going to be something that we all need to get through together."
Against IPFW, Ball State led the nation's No. 10 team after the first two sets (25-21, 25-22). From there, the Mastodons stole all the momentum and walked away with three consecutive set victories and a 3-2 victory.
It was a tough pill to swallow for the Cardinals.
"Thursday was a really big game we're disappointed to lose after going up 2-0," freshman middle attacker Matt Walsh said. "I think we need to start enjoying the game more, I think we've been playing not to mess up instead of playing to win."
Despite its record, Walton said he knew George Mason would be a challenge just a night after a tough loss to IPFW.
Ball State dropped the first two sets to the Patriots (24-26, 17-25) after losing a 24-22 lead late in the first set.
"We allowed George Mason to win game one and carry that momentum into game two," Walton, said. "They were relaxed and very aggressive, while on our side of the net we were playing very tight."
In the 3-0 loss, Ball State's usual heavy hitters were tight and struggled finding a rhythm.
The Cardinals finished the match against the Patriots with their worst attack percentage of the season.
"I'd like to see Matt Sutherland and Shane Witmer find their offensive skills again and build their offensive confidence," Walton said. "With those guys on the court we've got our best passing group and we've got our best backcourt defensive group."
Walton benched starters in both matches in an attempt to find a successful rotation.
Walton is searching to bring back the same momentum the team had at the beginning of the year to prepare for Ball State's upcoming schedule, which includes showdowns with No. 3 Lewis and No. 1 Loyola.
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